NALGONDA: Amshala Swamy, a 37-year-old activist suffering from skeletal fluorosis, passed away on Friday night after suffering a fall from his battery-operated wheelchair while trying to climb a ramp in front of his house at Shivannagudem village of Marriguda mandal.
The activist had waged a relentless fight for the rights of fluorosis victims for well over two decades, especially in the erstwhile Nalgonda district where a higher number of cases were being reported ever since the disease was identified in the district in 1945. Swamy was also the spotlight of Fluoride Vimochana Samithi.
At the age of 9, Swamy, along with Fluoride Vimukti Porata Samiti convener Kanchukatla Subhash and Jala Sadhana Samithi leader Dusharla Satyanarayana, had escalated the matter to the CMs of various States and even met former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to represent the issue in 1996.
After his meeting with Vajpayee, a group of MLAs and MLCs, led by the Speaker of undivided AP Assembly Nadendla Manohar, visited the fluoride-affected Munugode mandal.
“Because of the agitations waged by Swamy and others, the Telangana government took steps to bring safe drinking water to the doorsteps of every fluoride-affected village in the district,” Kanchukatla said.
IT Minister K T Rama Rao had allocated a 2BHK house to Swamy and had a meal at his house during the Munugode byelection campaign. Rama Rao tweeted his grief on his demise and expressed his heartfelt condolences.